Into Focus
by Tara4
Summary: James begins to see the world, and Lily from the eyes of an artist.
1. Chapter 1: James' realisation

Hello all, this has been nibbling at me for well, not to long, I think about a half a day, and it hasn't really been nibbling so much as hibernating, anyway, that is not the point, the point is that I wanted to write a James/Lily story so this is my James/Lily Story. I don't know how long it will be, so stick with me.  
  
Disclaimer - I do not own the characters of James, Lily, Remus, Sirius, Peter (Evil, Evil!!!! Hiss hiss hiss) or any one of the character that you know of. They all belong to JK.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
James held the camera in front of his face, his concentration centered on the eye piece he was looking through. He lined up the shot that he wanted to take, and clicked the button.  
  
The sound of the camera echoed in his ears. He liked hearing that sound, it gave him a slight feeling of satisfaction, made him feel as though he had created something, even if it was something as simple as a photograph.  
  
He was in an artistic phase at the moment, wanting to capture anything that his camera would allow him to. He would snap photos at random some times, and other times he would set up a shot, spending time to make sure that the photo would be properly framed by his surroundings.  
  
He used a muggle camera. James had worked for a whole summer in a muggle Photoshop to save up enough money to buy himself a camera. In many ways he was glad that he was not using a magical camera, he liked the fact that his art was not likely to stand up and run away.  
  
His passion had turned to an obsession quickly, and the obsession was quickly turning to a possession. He never went anywhere with out his camera, he never left his camera any where unattended, it was permanently attached to his hand. He carried it around, never knowing when the opportunity would arise that an interesting photo could be taken.  
  
He had taken his friends by surprise when he had met them on the Hogwarts express to go back for their 7th year. He was holding his camera, and the first thing that he did was take a photo of Sirius (Who in turn threatened to punch his lights out if he was ever to take his photo with out asking again). Remus and Peter thought it was a really cool hobby to have, and they couldn't wait for James to get the film developed so that they could see the photos.  
  
James had set up a small developing lab in the corner of their dormitory, using a spell to darken the room when ever he needed to. Sirius, of course, hated the fact that his whole room smelt like chemicals all the time now, but Peter and Remus still thought it was cool, and often asked to help James develop his photo's.  
  
But Sirius had to admit that his friend had talent. James was a good photographer. He always seemed to capture his subjects at a time of motion or transition. Sirius liked James' photographs so much that he even told him that James could take his photo if he did so desire.  
  
He liked to take all of his photographs in black and white, capturing the light and shadow of his subjects. It gave them all depth and meaning, a brutal sense of reality that James liked.  
  
His photographs were soon all over their dorm room, covering the bare walls, making the cold stone a wash of black and white gloss, occasionally, on of the photographs would be in color, and that just added more contrast to the mix.  
  
Other students soon heard of James' hobby, and every one seemed to want to see his photographs. They all want to see for themselves if the legendary James Potter had any gifts other to those from the ones he showed on the quidditch field.  
  
No one had a problem with James running around and taking photos of them (Well, maybe a few of the Slytherins did, but James avoided taking photos of them anyway) and pretty soon, James was taking pictures of every one and making copies to give to people. Sirius had told him he should be charging people and making a fortune, but James knew that wouldn't be right. He couldn't ask for money for doing something that he enjoyed, it wouldn't feel right.  
  
James took photos of everything. Quidditch games (the ones he was not playing in, of course), classes and school events. He was like the school's official photographer, and he didn't mind, because he enjoyed it.  
  
Soon, every one in the school was in possession of a James Potter Original. (Even the Slytherins) They had become almost like priceless pieces of art, and Dumbledore had even asked James to choose a few of his favorites to be hung around different areas of the school.  
  
James could not have been happier. He was glad that people at his school were supportive of his hobby, and he was glad that he was still having fun taking photos.  
  
On Saturday afternoons, James took the time to just walk around the school and take photographs. He would take photos of anything that he saw, people, places, things, nature, anything that took his fancy.  
  
But this Saturday it was raining. That meant that James was restricted to indoors, just like everyone else was. People were around, standing in hallways talking, or studying in the library, but no one really stayed in their common rooms.  
  
James was in the common room though, lying on the couch by the fire and contemplating taking a picture of the flickering flame. There was nothing else in the room that was interesting from the point of view of a photographer.  
  
But he lifted his camera to his eye and looked at the world around him, hoping that something would strike him as interesting.  
  
There was a couple in the corner, their foreheads pressed together as their lips lightly brushed across each other. James smiled and snapped a photo of that. He was sure that the couple would appreciate a beautiful picture like that.  
  
And there were two boys in the other corner playing chess, one of the boys had his hand hovering over that white queen, thinking of a move. James zoomed in, focusing on the piece as the boys hand took the top of it. He snapped the photo, that one would look cool.  
  
He kept searching the common room for his next subject, but there was only one other person.  
  
She sat on the stairs that lead to the dorm rooms, her back was leaning against one of the walls and he foot was against the wall on the other side. She had a book in her hands, and her concentration was dedicated purely it the pages.  
  
Her red hair was pulled up into a messy bun, but she still had a few small wisps falling down around her face. She was biting her bottom lips innocently as her eyes followed the words on the page before her.  
  
James, who was still sitting on the chair on the other side of the room pulled the camera away from his eye and blinked. He replaced his camera to his eye and then looked across the room again.  
  
It was like a light bulb went off inside his head and James Potter then realized something that he had never ever considered before.  
  
Lily Evans was beautiful.  
  
Taking a deep breath, trying to be quiet and capture her just as she was at that moment, he snapped off a few pictures.  
  
It was amazing what the lens of a camera could bring into focus. 


	2. Chapter 2: Lily's Photograph

CHAPTER 2  
  
The chemicals washed over the glossy paper that James had submerged. The black and white images slowly came to the surface. He was in his darkened dorm room, developing the roll of film that he had just completed.  
  
Almost every photo had turned out awesome so far. James had long perfected the art of developing his photographs, but he did still stuff up the occasional image.  
  
He held the newly developed photo by the corner, allowing the excess chemicals run off the edges and drip back into the tray, when the rest of it had dripped, he moved to hang the photo on the line with the others.  
  
He but the next exposed gloss finished paper into the chemicals, and waited, patiently for the image to appear. He had saved this photo until last, wanting to pay special attention to the detail of this particular one, hoping that it turned out perfect.  
  
He wanted it to be perfect, because he knew that he had to do its subject justice.  
  
It had become a promise to himself to have this be the perfect photo. He needed it to be the perfect photo. What he saw when he had looked through the lens at his subject was perfect, so the photograph had to be perfect to.  
  
The image surfaced slowly, and the black and white image of Lily Evans was exposed. James waited just the right amount of time until the picture was at it high quality, and then, carefully lifted the picture for the chemicals.  
  
He looked at the picture as he allowed it to drip. Lily was beautiful, and he mentally slapped himself for not realizing it before now.  
  
James and Lily had knowing each other since their first year at Hogwarts, but they had never really interacted. James was a member of the 'popular crowd' (even though there really was not popular crowd at Hogwarts, it was just that some people were liked better than others) and Lily wasn't very popular.  
  
Lily had always seemed content with just being by herself, she had a few friends, but James didn't know if any of them could be considered her best friend. James really didn't know anything about Lily; he had never even given her much thought before.  
  
He knew she was smart, and she was always answering questions in classes. He knew that she didn't like to be in big groups, and that she was shy.  
  
But other than that, she didn't really know anything about Lily. He wished he did know more, and he hoped that he would have the opportunity to learn more about her.  
  
The door opened, and then closed again, but James didn't draw his attention away from the picture of Lily that was hanging from the line with the others.  
  
But a thump did call his attention away from the pictures.  
  
"Bugger it, James, why do you have to leave the lights off all the time?" Sirius asked as he collapsed onto the nearest bed and rubbed his shins. James chuckled.  
  
"I have to keep the lights off to develop the photographs properly" James explained for the umpteenth time. Sirius laughed.  
  
"Right, I forgot, but why do the rest of us have to suffer for your art?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know, we should set up a system so that you don't have to come in here when I am developing" James suggested as he gave the completed photographs another check. When he saw that they were all perfect and dry, he collected them, and then reversed his darkening spell.  
  
Sirius was sitting on Remus's bed, rubbing his shin, which had already developed a nasty bruise.  
  
"Wanna see the new batch?" James asked, handing the pile of photographs to Sirius. He took them and flipped through them.  
  
"This one is good, that one rocks, ooh, I like that one ..... Wait, who is the babe?" Sirius asked, holding out the picture of Lily.  
  
"Believe it or not, Lily Evans" James replied as he tidied his developing things and then pushed them back into the corner where they were kept.  
  
"Lily Evans, you mean the quiet girl who sat behind us in potions last year?" Sirius asked, looking down at the photo again, trying to compare the black and white beauty in the photograph to the quiet red haired girl that used to sit behind them.  
  
"That's her" James replied, sitting on his own bed.  
  
"Are you sure? I mean, are you sure that it is really Lily?" Sirius asked, James took the photo from him and looked down at her face again.  
  
"It is really her, I saw her sitting there and I couldn't help myself, I had to capture it" James replied, his gaze never leaving the photograph.  
  
"You know, either you are a miracle worker, or Lily has turned into a total babe almost over night" Sirius replied  
  
"No Sirius, not over night, I think that she was always like this, and we just never realized it before." James pondered. Sirius looked at his mate, trying to track what James was thinking. Sirius didn't have to think much though, because he knew he best friend well enough to realize that James was crushing on this girl.  
  
He knew his friend was falling, and falling hard.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
James watched as Lily silently sat, reading the book that was open in front of her on the desk. She had quills and parchment spread around her as she studied in the library.  
  
She was sitting by herself at one of the smaller tables in a secluded corner of the library, reading one of her text books and chewing on the end of her quill (James took the time to ponder weather or not it was a sugar quill, but then he dismissed the idea, Lily Evans would never be the type of person to break a school rule and eat in the library)  
  
Her hair was pulled into a messy bun again, and James had to smiled, he liked her hair when she did it like that, it made her look beautiful. But then again, she was a very beautiful person to begin with.  
  
James took a deep breath and tried to steady himself, he didn't know what the big deal was, he was only delivering a photograph. All he had to do was walk up to her and say 'Hi Lily, I took this photo of you and I thought that you may like it'. That was all he did when he had given other photos to each other, so why was this time so hard for him.  
  
Holding the folder in his hand, he flipped it open to have one last look at his favorite photograph to date. He liked it, not only just the subject matter. He liked the way that the sunlight from the nearby window reflected off of her skin, he liked the way the black and white gave her softness an edgy contrast.  
  
Like with almost all of his pictures, he had made himself a copy for his own personal portfolio. He had a large collection of pictures that he had taken, but out of all of them, this was definitely his best.  
  
After one last breath, he clutched the folder to his chest again and moved to the table that Lily was sitting at. She was still chewing on the end of her quill and reading the book in front of her. But a lock of her red hair had fallen in front of her eyes, she reached up and brushed it away, and James' breath got caught in his throat once again.  
  
Well, no time like the present  
  
"Umm, hello Lily" James began. He tried not to laugh when she jumped, her quill falling from her hand.  
  
"Oh, hello James" She replied as she reached down to pick up the quill once more. The lock of red hair was in her face again, but this time she didn't brush it away. She was to busy looking at her quill, it looked as though she was about to put it back in her mouth before she thought better of it and threw it onto the table with her other things.  
  
"I am sorry Lily, I didn't mean to startle you" James apologized. He wasn't sure if Lily had heard him, because she seemed to busy digging through her things. A few seconds later she picked up a new quill and began to nibble on the end of it.  
  
"That is ok James, What can I do for you?" She replied. He voice was soft and gentle and it almost sounded as though she was scared. James placed his hand on the back of the chair opposite her.  
  
"Can I sit down?" He asked nervously. He watched as Lily looked somewhat shocked.  
  
"Umm, sure, if you want to" She replied, and then turned his attention back to the quill she still held. James smiled as he took his seat and then watched her for a few seconds, it was a very cute nervous trait that she had, he made a mental note to buy her a sugar quill next time that he was in the village.  
  
"So, umm, what can I do for you?" Lily asked, James looked down at the folder in his hand, and then held it out to her.  
  
"Well, I took this picture of you, and I thought that you may appreciate it" James mumbled. Lily, who looked shocked and in some ways scared, took the folder from him, opened it, and examined the contents.  
  
She had to admit that it was a very beautiful picture, but she also couldn't shake the weird feeling that it gave her. James had taken a photograph of her, it seemed kind of strange. For some one who hardly paid any attention to her at any other time, it was a great picture.  
  
"Umm, thank you I guess, it is a very nice picture" Lily smiled at James, and then packed up her things, standing to leave the library.  
  
"Wait, where are you going?" James asked.  
  
"Back to the tower" She replied, James stood to.  
  
"I will come with you" he suggested, and together they silently left the library.  
  
Lily felt she had to say something more to him, she really did like the picture of her, it was very nice, and very professional. Before she realized it, they were back at the portrait hole.  
  
"Thank you again for the picture" Lily smiled, tucking the piece of stray hair out of her face again, James smiled.  
  
"I am just glad that it turned out so well" he replied.  
  
"Well, thank you, you have a great talent" She replied, and then turned, stated the password, and entered the common room.  
  
James just watched her leave. 


	3. Chapter 3: James' Question

Lily had pinned the photograph up on the wall beside her bed. She liked the way that the shadows played on her face, she liked the way that she had looked natural in the photograph, and she like liked the fact that some one had cared enough about her to take a photo of her.  
  
Lily never felt cared about, especially at school. At home, she was the youngest daughter (luckily, she only had one sister) but it always felt very much like she was fighting to be recognized. Usually when Lily was at home, her sister petunia turned into a real bitch. Petunia was spoilt, and every one knew it.  
  
Sure, her parents loved her, and she loved her parents. But Lily always knew she was different. And her father knew that she was different to, that was why Lily and her father got along a lot better any one ever expected.  
  
Lily's father knew about the magic world, he always had, he was the son of a squib, so a few of his uncles and aunts were witches and wizards.  
  
Sometimes magic skips a generation and that was what had happened. Lily and her father both recognized that she was special, and he knew it was because she had magic in her. That was why her father was so proud when Lily got her Hogwarts letter.  
  
Lily's mother and sister, however, thought that she was a freak. That hurt Lily the most, her own mother thought that she was a freak because she had a special gift. Lily's mother decided that yes, Lily could go to Hogwarts, because yes, out of sight out of mind.  
  
Lily's parents split up while Lily was in her fist year at Hogwarts. In some ways it was a good thing, because once the truth was out about the magic in the Evan's blood, her mother made her fathers life a living hell.  
  
Now during summers, Lily would have to spend half of her time with her mother and half of her time at her father's house. Lily didn't like that; she would have rathered spending all of her time with her father. At least he asked her questions about her school work.  
  
And no one really acknowledged her at school, the teachers did, because the recognized her talent, and she always knew the right answers to the questions they asked in class. But other than that, no one ever even realized she was there.  
  
Especially not some one like James Potter.  
  
She had spoken to him a few times, mainly congratulating him after a good game of quidditch. He some times asked her to explain spells that they had learned, but that was as far as their friendship had ever gone.  
  
Lily spoke to the others even though she found herself uncomfortable around them. Sirius sometimes joked around with her, but she didn't have the confidence to tell him to stop it. Some of the things that he said, even though he was only joking around, had really hurt her.  
  
Lily found Remus to be the easiest to get along with. They had shared a table in the library a few times when they had to study for a test. They both understood the need to study and study hard for exams. Remus would always greet her with a smile.  
  
But they were not exactly what you could call friends. That was why she had been a little freaked out when James presented her with the Photo. This guy knew nothing about her, and yet, this photograph seemed to see right into her.  
  
There was something about the way the picture was taken, but it seemed that herself in the photo was showing way more that herself in real life ever did. James had used his camera and he had seen right into her soul.  
  
It was unnerving. James Potter had seen something in her, even if he didn't realize that he had.  
  
She wondered if James understood what he had done by taking the Picture.  
  
Glancing at her watch, she realized she was running late for potions. She only had ten minutes to get down to the dungeons. She stood from her bed where she had been relaxing and picked up he text book, note book, and a few (unchewed) quills and went to leave the room.  
  
She stopped, she felt as though she had forgotten something, but she couldn't place what it was. Moving back to her desk, she dug around the things to look for what her brain was telling her she was forgetting. But there was nothing there that she needed.  
  
Lily turned to leave again, and then stopped. As an impulse, she reached out and untacked James' photo from the wall and slid it into the back of her text book.  
  
Then she turned and left the room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Even though she had ran almost all the way from her room, Lily was still late for class.  
  
She entered the room quietly when the teachers back was turned. And took the first available seat, which just happened to be at the back of the class room. She practically flew to the seat and sat down.  
  
Lily scattered her things around the table to make it look like she been there since the beginning, and it was only then that she realized who she was sitting next to.  
  
James Potter.  
  
Lily couldn't help the blush that rose in her cheeks "If any one asks, I have been here all along? Ok"  
  
"Ok" James smiled, and then dipped his quill into his ink pot and began copying the information off of the board. Lily did the same.  
  
She chewed on the end of her quill as she read the information off of the board in front of her. James couldn't help but watch her out of the corner of his eye.  
  
She had no idea how the simple action of her chewing on a quill had driven his crazy in the last few days. He had spent hours just thinking of the quill and the way she nibbled on it.  
  
Never before had James Potter envied a quill.  
  
"Could you please stop staring at me James, it is making me uncomfortable" Lily mumbled under her breath. James nodded and mumbled some sort of apology, but Lily's thoughts had taken over, and she couldn't hear him.  
  
Why had he been looking at her? He had never looked at her before. He had never really given her the time of day before. But now they were sitting together in class and looking at her out of the corner of his eye.  
  
And she had told him that he was making her uncomfortable, which was true. She didn't know weather James' attention way unwanted or not. She liked him as s person, but she just didn't know him well enough.  
  
"Now, if you will open your text books to page 200" The teacher began, Lily took her book and began to flip through the pages.  
  
"Uh, Lily, it seems that I have forgotten to bring my book with me, can I share yours?" He asked, Lily smiled and placed the open book in the middle of the desk where they could both read from the pages.  
  
As James looked down at the book, he noticed something. A slither of black and white that was sticking out of the back of the text. He was curious, he knew that he really shouldn't be looking through her things, but he just wanted to know.  
  
He pulled the item, and was surprised by what he saw.  
  
It was the picture that he had taken of her. The photo that had been haunting it since he took it. Lily saw James movement and turned to him. The blush rose in her cheeks immediately.  
  
"Do you carry this around often?" James asked. Lily shrugged, not wanting to say yes or no, she didn't know what to say really. How do you answer a question like that?  
  
"I just really like it, is all" She replied and turned back to her work.  
  
James watched her as she copied notes from the text into her own workbook. Lily liked the photo. Lily liked the photo enough to carry it around with her. It was all to amazing, all just to good to be true.  
  
"I am glad you like it" James replied. He looked down at the picture once more, he thought that he had memorized every part of the photograph, but now that he looked at it again, there was so much more to it that was portrayed in the crisp black and white.  
  
James wondered if he would forever be comparing his work to this one picture that he took of Lily. He wondered if he would ever take a photo this good again. He wondered if he would ever want to take a really good picture again.  
  
He also thought about the subject of the photograph. Would he ever have the opportunity to take a photo of her again. Would he ever have the guts to take another one of her. Would she professionally pose (tastefully, of course) if she asked her.  
  
Well, he knew he would never be able to live with himself if he didn't ask  
  
"Umm, Lily, I was wondering if maybe, you would like to be a model for me" James asked. Lily looked shocked.  
  
"A model?" She questioned.  
  
"Yes, well, a subject, I would really like to take your photograph again, with your permission, of course" James replied.  
  
"I don't know, I just ... I don't know"  
  
"Well, umm, do you think you could think about it please?" James asked, he felt like a complete ass for just asking her like that, but there was no way to take it back now.  
  
Lily just looked at James, trying to process the confusing request.  
  
"Yeah, sure James, I will think about it."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Please Review 


	4. Chapter 4: Lily's Answer

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.  
  
It was the only word that was running through James head. James was well aware that there were hundreds of thousands of words in the English language, and he was also aware of hundreds of Latin words he used, but at that moment, his mind was not going to let him get past that one annoying word.  
  
Stupid.  
  
He was stupid. He had just done the stupidest thing in a long line of stupid things. He had asked Lily Evans to be a model for him.  
  
Stupid!  
  
He didn't know where his mind had been when the completely stupid idea had penetrated his frontal lobe. One minute he had just been sitting in potions, minding his own business and thinking how happy he was that Lily liked his photo, and then next minute, he was opening his stupid mouth and the stupid words were gushing out.  
  
Stupid stupid.  
  
He had seen the look that Lily had given him after he had asked. She looked shocked and appalled and happy and surprised, all in one. She was confused yet had a small glint of some thing else in her eyes. It could have been excitement, he didn't know.  
  
All he did know was he was stupid.  
  
Stupid Stupid Stupid.  
  
And every one seemed to agree with him. After returning to their dorm room after class, James told Sirius about asking Lily to be his model. James had never seen his best friend laugh so hard.  
  
"You did what?" Sirius had choked out between gasps of breath.  
  
"I .... Well, I asked Lily to model for me" James repeated. That just made Sirius laugh even harder.  
  
"Oh god, I thought I hadn't heard you right" Sirius howled with laughter, laughing tears running down his cheeks. His little laughing fit ended when he had rolled off of the bed, still laughing like a madman.  
  
It wasn't that Sirius didn't think that Lily could do it, because he agreed with James, Lily was a very pretty girl and with the magic that James did when he had a camera in his hand, they could make beautiful photos together. Sirius just found it hilarious that James had been so straight forward and asked her that.  
  
James, however, failed to see the humor in the situation, he had gone out on a limb and asked Lily to be a model for him, and she said that she would think about it.  
  
She said she would think about it. That little piece of information had made Sirius stop laughing.  
  
Thinking about it always ended in coming to a decision, either a yes or a no. James was just holding out on the hope she would say yes.  
  
He had ulterior motives for asking her to be a model. He wanted to get to know her. He wanted to spend the time just talking to her, learning more about her. He wanted to form a friendship with her.  
  
He hoped that she would say yes, not just for the sake of his art but also for the sake of his life. He knew it sounded really clichéd, but he knew Lily was a special person, and getting to know her better would make his life special.  
  
Stupid. There was something else he didn't think of. Stupid  
  
What if he scared her away? Lily was the type of person who didn't usually didn't hang out in big groups. She was the type of person who would much rather be alone with a book than talking to people. What if his offer had been too much for her? What if he had freaked her out?  
  
Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid.  
  
James moved down the stairs to the common room, only to hear Sirius laughing at him. James sighed, maybe he wasn't the stupid one, maybe Sirius was.  
  
"Knock it off Sirius" James growled, Sirius just smiled and shrugged.  
  
"Hey James, when are you going to ask me to be your model" Remus laughed. James flipped him off.  
  
"God Padfoot, is nothing sacred with you is it?" James asked. They boys just laughed.  
  
"No, especially when it is as funny as you asking Lily to be your own personal model" Sirius replied. James was about to flip him the finger to, but soon realized that he couldn't be bothered.  
  
James just collapsed onto one of the chairs and sighed. Sirius and Remus looked at each other and then crowded onto the chair, each of them taking one of James' sides.  
  
"Ahhh, come on Prongs, tell uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony what the problem is" Sirius smiled, babying James.  
  
"Do you guys think I am stupid?" James began, before he had the chance to finish the statement, Sirius had fallen off of the chair and was rolling around the floor laughing again. Both of the other boys winced as his head almost collided with the corner of the coffee table.  
  
"Would you like to re phrase that sentence so that I can answer it with out insulting you?" Remus asked. James sighed.  
  
"This whole thing with Lily, do you think I am stupid for asking her to be my model?" James re phrased, Remus thought for a few seconds.  
  
"Yes James, Of course I think you are a stupid idiot" Remus said after a few long seconds of thinking "But you did some thing that you wanted to do, so it is not really up to me to tell you how stupid you are"  
  
"Ohhh, can I be the one to tell him he is stupid?" Sirius asked from the floor where he had stopped laughing.  
  
"No" Both Remus and James replied.  
  
"Oh, you two are no fun" Sirius whined.  
  
"Listen James, just give her a few days, she may say that she wants to model for you, and she may also say the she doesn't. Neither of us know what she is going to say, so you may not be as stupid as you thought you were....shut up Padfoot" Remus managed to say just before Sirius said something to prove different.  
  
Sirius made another dog like whining noise and then collapsed back onto the floor. Remus and James went on with their conversation about Lily and art. Sirius wasn't really listening, but he couldn't help laugh when one of them actually said "Lily is art" (which made no sense at all)  
  
Sirius was the only one who heard the portrait door swing open and Lily enter. She was carrying her library books under one arm and holding a quill between her teeth (James was right, Sirius admitted, that was a really cute thing for her to do.)  
  
They other two went on with their conversation about Lily, not realizing who had just walked it in. Sirius knew the right thing to do was to warn them that the subject of their conversation had just walked in, but when he thought about it, he realized that that would not be half as fun.  
  
The boys continued to chat as Lily placed her books on the table in the corner, put down her quill, and then moved across to the group of boys. Sirius smiled up at her from his spot on the floor. Lily smiled and then turned back to Remus and James.  
  
"I don't know how she does it to me, every time I see her I just turn into a blithering idiot. I can't stop thinking about her ... She is amazing" James explained to Remus.  
  
Lily stopped to listen to the conversation. James liked a girl. She wanted to know who. She wanted to know who she had to be jealous of. She wanted to know what this meant with the whole modeling thing now. Now she was more confused than she was before.  
  
"Um, James, you have a visitor" Sirius finally said. As fun as it was to watch James unconsciously embarrass himself, he had seen the pained look on Lily's face.  
  
"Oh, Lily ..... Hi Lily....what can I do for you?" He stumbled over his words, which just made Sirius begin laughing yet again. James made a not to curse his best friend with the strongest curse he could find.  
  
"Well, I was wondering if maybe would could have a talk about this whole modeling thing" Lily asked nervously, he voice shaking.  
  
"Umm, sure, ok, let's get out of the common room though, and away from Sirius, he just can't stop giggling like a girl today" James said, standing and kicking Sirius in the shins.  
  
"I will get you back for that Prongs" Sirius called as Lily and James both left the common room.  
  
"So, what did you want to talk about?" James asked as he nervously ran his hand through his hair and down the back of his neck. Lily took a deep breath and avoided looking at him.  
  
"Well...I was wondering what I would have to do as your model." She asked. James looked at her.  
  
"Nothing distasteful, I promise ..... " James began; Lily laughed "I would just like to take a few pictures of you"  
  
"Oh, ok, that is good"  
  
"Are you still thinking about it?" James asked hopefully. Lily sighed.  
  
"I am highly considering it, I think it would be fun, and you are a great artist so..... Yeah, I think I will do it" Lily smiled. James was so happy he could have kissed her, of course, he didn't. "But I was wondering if I could set some conditions"  
  
"Sure Lily, anything you want" James replied. At that point he was so happy he would have agreed to dance around in his boxer shorts in the great hall during breakfast (he hoped to all who was listening that that was not one of her conditions)  
  
"I would really like a few copies of the pictures to send to my dad" She began, James nodded, that was an understandable request. "And if it is not too much trouble....do you think that you could teach me how to take photos, I would really like to learn."  
  
James smiled. He liked her conditions, and he really wanted to teach her how to take photos.  
  
"Deal" He grinned and held out his hand.  
  
"Deal" Lily replied, shaking his offered hand. 


	5. Chapter 5: James' Lesson

Hey, I hope you liked this chapter, because I enjoyed writing it.  
  
Oh yeah, and Sirius' middle name (Theoden) is my way of venting the fact that I have to wait till boxing day to see the Two Towers (but I am going to an awesome movie marathon with Fellowship of the Ring followed by Two Towers, how awesome it that!!!!! That = about 6 staight hours of Orlando Bloom and Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd and Karl Urban and Viggo Mortensen and David Wenham and ...... I'll shut up and let you get to the reading shall I)  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lily looked out of the window and sighed. She couldn't believe she had actually agreed to be James' model. She didn't think she would ever have the guts to do something like that. Especially because it was James Potter.  
  
But who was James Potter Really. He was just a boy who was popular, but deep down under that, he was just a boy. So he had talent with a camera, and he was really good on a quidditch pitch and he was extremely good looking, what did that matter.  
  
But Lily knew that it did matter. James was a strong, mature, popular good looking guy, and she was just Lily. She knew what other people thought of her, that she wasn't very pretty and she was shy.  
  
She wondered why all of a sudden James wanted to be her friend and model. Lily automatically got a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. What if it was all a joke? What if this was a totally stupid MWPP prank. Taking her emotions and then toying with them.  
  
Naw, she reasoned, The boys liked to play around with peoples minds, but they would never go as far as hurting some one's heart and soul. Plus, she didn't think that James would do that to her, he seemed too nice.  
  
Even though she really knew nothing about him. She only knew what the other girls in her room had said. That he was sweet and funny and apparently a good kisser. That was one of the reasons why Lily had agreed to be James' model (no, not for the kissing) she wanted to get to know him better.  
  
And true, he was really cute. Lily had always thought that he was a very good looking person, even though she liked to judge people on who they were not what they looked like. But James really was cute, and Lily was not ashamed to admit that she had a small crush on James.  
  
But it seemed that a lot of girls in the school had a crush on either James, Sirius or Remus (No, seriously, a seventh year Ravenclaw took a poll of who people thought were the cutest boys in the school, those three won hands down)  
  
But James had a crush on some one. Lily had heard him admitting it to Remus. James had said a whole heap of things about being a blithering idiot around this girl and how he can not stop thinking about this girl.  
  
Lily knew that he wasn't talking about her, because he never acted like an idiot when she was around. So she just had to deal with the fact that James didn't have a crush on her. And in some ways, although she was disappointed, she knew she was ok with that fact.  
  
It was not like he would ever return the feelings; Lily thought some what bitterly, he could have any girl in the school.  
  
She ran her fingers through her hair and impulsively put the end of her quill into her mouth and chewed on it. She had realized she had been doing that a lot lately, chewing on the end of her quill. Lily had no idea why she did it; all she did know was that it had been a trait she had picked up when she was a first year. Lily only ever chewed her quill when she was worried, nervous or scared. And at that point she was all three.  
  
She was worried, because she didn't know if she would be able to work with James and keep her feelings for him platonic. He was the only boy who had ever given her the time of day, and there was no denying the fact that she did find herself attracted to him, both physically and mentally.  
  
Lily was nervous, because she had never really closely interacted with a boy. She had of course worked along side boys in her classes, but she had never had a boy friend, or a friend who was a boy. She was nervous, but it was an excited kind of nervous.  
  
And she was scared for the same reason. Lily wished that she wasn't nervous and scared, because it was really just James, but she was scared she would do something to embarrass herself. She was scared that she would do something wrong and James would laugh at her like a few of the other students did (most students who laughed at her were Slytherin, but there would still be the occasional Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw who would have a little dig at her.)  
  
But even with those three emotions coursing through her veins, she was over run with excitement. She was going to be learning something new, how to take professional photographs. She hoped that she would be good enough by the holidays so that she could take photos for her dad. And she hoped that she was going to be a good enough model that the photos would turn out so she could send them copies.  
  
James had seemed excited about her conditions also, he seemed fine with making copies of any photographs that they took and he looked genuinely happy when she asked for photography lessons.  
  
James and Lily had not spoken about when the lessons or photo sessions would start, but Lily hoped that it would be sooner rather than later. She wanted to jump straight into it. Get learning.  
  
"Sirius Théoden Black, you bring that back this instant!!!" The yelled came from the Gryffindor dorm rooms. Lily turned to the stairs as Sirius half jumped; half fell down the stairs and lunged at Lily's table.  
  
Lily was blinded by a bright flash, and it took a few seconds for the dots that swam in her vision to fade, but when they did, she realized that Sirius was standing in front of her with James' camera.  
  
"I am not kidding Sirius" James yelled as he bolted down the stairs. He got to the bottom of them, saw that Sirius was not in fact moving, and then lunged at him. Sirius had just enough time (and common sense) to put the camera on the table before he was tackled to the ground.  
  
Lily leaned over her table and looked at the floor where the boys were still play fighting. Both boys had their hands wrapped around each others necks.  
  
"Do you boys want me to leave you alone?" Lily asked. The boys let go of each others necks and looked up at her. James blushed but Sirius grinned.  
  
"Could you love, that would be great" Sirius joked as he stroked James' jet black hair. James nudged him and got up off of the floor.  
  
"Just ignore him, every one else does" James replied, dusting some lint off of his robes. Sirius stood also and then took a seat on the table, leaning over to read Lily's work.  
  
"'An ancient history of the study of ancient runes: A lost art form' oh gee, exciting, makes me kind of glad that I chose Divinations" Sirius smiled and then exaggerated a yawn. "Gee, just reading the title makes me sleepy, I think I am going go and see what Moony is doing."  
  
"Yes, go pester him for a while" James replied, and then picked up his camera "And if I find out that you did anything to ruin my camera, I will beat you with in an inch of your life."  
  
Sirius had reached the landing at the top of the stairs, he looked over the waist high wall and back down into the common room "Don't make promises you have not intention of keeping Potter"  
  
Lily laughed as Sirius disappeared into his bedroom. James looked down at her and smiled apologetically.  
  
"I am really sorry about him, I don't know why I am still his friend" James admitted with a smile. Lily laughed.  
  
"He does seem like a handle, but I think I can deal with him now that I have ammunition" She replied, closing a few of her text books and re arranging her notes.  
  
"Ammunition? What ammunition?" James asked.  
  
"His middle name is Théoden, is it not?" She asked. James laughed. Lily stood and finished collecting all of her things.  
  
"Umm, Lily, I was wondering if you wanted to take some photos with me this afternoon." James asked, indicating to the camera he was still holding. Lily thought for a few seconds and then nodded.  
  
"Sure, just let me put my books away."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"So do you know anything about photography?" James asked, Lily shook her head. She had truthfully never used a camera before. "Well, I would like to teach you everything that I know"  
  
"I would love that, thank you" Lily smiled. They were walking down the hallway towards the main entrance of the school.  
  
"It is really not that hard, because you just have to find something that you want to take a picture of, and then set up the shot, make sure that it is framed properly and things like that" James explained quickly as they made their way over to the large lake that was on the grounds. When they got there, James handed her the camera.  
  
"Just put it up to your eye, and look for something that is interesting" He told her. She did as he said, but stopped because she could hear him chuckling.  
  
"What?" She asked, a smile spreading on her own lips, he had a really nice laugh.  
  
"You have never used a camera before have you?" He asked, she shrugged "You are holding it wrong, if you were to take a photo like that, then you would get a picture of your fingers"  
  
"Hey, there is nothing wrong with having a picture of your fingers" Lily replied, defending herself and her inability to use a camera. James just laughed again.  
  
"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, in fact, I have at least one photo of my fingers in every batch....but your pictures will reflect on your teacher, and I don't want to be anything other than perfect, because that would mean I am perfect" He explained.  
  
"What ever Potter" She smiled and rolled her eyes, "Just show me how to hold this damn thing"  
  
Ok, so on this side, it may be comfortable for you to put your fingers here" James explained as he moved to her side and began to reposition her hands on his camera. Then he moved to the other side, his hands resting lightly on hers. After he had positioned her hands, she once again raised the camera to her eye.  
  
James still had not moved his hands off of hers, he was still standing behind her, and her back was pressed lightly to his chest. Lily couldn't help but settle back into his arms as she tried to focus on the photo she wanted to take.  
  
"Found anything interesting yet?" He asked, his voice was very close to her ear, she could feel his sweet breath as it danced across her cheeks.  
  
What? Oh right, they were taking pictures.  
  
Lily moved around a little and then finally focused on the tree of the other side of the lake.  
  
"Ok, I think I have found something, what now?" she asked, James took her hand and placed it on the front lens.  
  
"Adjust the lens till it is in focus" He told her. She did so and then nodded. James, still moving her hand, moved it so that he finger was resting lightly on the button "and then you take your picture"  
  
Lily pressed the button, she had just taken her first photograph.  
  
"No, lets waste the rest of the film so I can go and develop it" He told her. She smiled and looked back over her shoulder at him. His head was almost resting on her shoulder, and when she turned to smile at him, their noses brushed.  
  
All he wanted to do was to kiss her. He was so close, but he wasn't sure what would happen if he did. Would she freak out or would she want him to. All he knew was that he wasn't going to risk loosing her and the friendship that was forming between them. He didn't want there to be awkwardness between them. He didn't know what to say.  
  
"Lily, I am sorry" He decided on. Lily looked at him.  
  
"Why are you sorry?" She asked softly.  
  
"Because I am standing to close, and it is wrong of me to invade your person space" he replied, untangling his arms and taking a step back. Lily sighed.  
  
She didn't know how he would take it if she told him she didn't want him to move. She hoped that he would be ok with it.  
  
Wait a second Lily, she mentally slapped herself, he has a crush on some one else.  
  
"It is ok James, so, lets take some pictures."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


	6. Chapter 6: Lily's Evesdropping

Saw two towers, loved it beyond belief (especially that bit with Legolas in it!!! Well, every part with Legolas in it.)  
  
Any way, I hope you enjoy this, I enjoyed writing it.  
  
Review please  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Lily couldn't help the tear that ran down her Cheek as she stood at her window, over looking the spot where she and James had had their photography lesson. The spot where he had wrapped his arms around her, the place where he was standing dangerously close to her. The spot where they had almost kissed.  
  
His lips had been so close to hers. So close that all she had to do was lean back and press her lips to his. And that had been all she had wanted to do. It had been what she was going to do.  
  
Her back had been pressed against his chest, and her lips had been so close to his, her eyes had fluttered shut as she moved closer and closer to him, and then he had moved away.  
  
Lily had felt like such an idiot. She didn't know why she had even tried to kiss him. She knew that he didn't like her like that. Lily had heard her the other day when he was talking to Remus and Sirius, he liked some one else. Some one else that wasn't her.  
  
Lily didn't even know why she was setting herself up for a rejection like that. She knew he didn't feel that way, she knew he just wanted to be her friend, she knew that he just wanted to teach her how to take pictures, and take some pictures of her, but nothing more.  
  
But Lily had a crush on him. She had admitted that to herself. She had a crush on James Potter. He was cute and totally sweet to her. Lily wanted nothing more than to tell James how she felt, but she was not going to set herself up for rejection.  
  
And she was chewing on her quill again. Lily sighed and threw the offending writing implement across the room. She knew that she really had to stop chewing on quills, she was probably doing her teeth a gums some major damage, but she couldn't help it.  
  
And she couldn't help her thoughts. Lily was half way through her transfiguration homework, but she could not do any more. What had started out as a good copy of her work had soon turned into a draft due to the fact that her thoughts had some how found there way into the ink that marked the page. As she looked over the roll of parchment, she could not help but laugh at how many times she had scribbled out James' name, which was now covered in big black blotches of ink.  
  
With out thinking, Lily picked up her second quill and brought it to her mouth, chewing it. Pulling the quill away, she just sighed. There was no way she would be able to concentrate on transfiguration while he mind was still on that near kiss. There was no way that she would be able to write another 7 inches with out having even more scribbled out words or blotched sections of parchment.  
  
The library was calling her anyway. It was calling her name. Not only for school books, but for recreation books as well. She just wanted to read, to clear her head and forget about James Anthony Potter (Lily took a few seconds to wonder how the hell she knew what James' middle name was)  
  
Standing, stretching the kinks out of her back and her neck, she picked up her quill, put it in her mouth once again and then moved towards the door. Stopping to laugh at herself, she threw her quill across the room where it landed on the floor with the other quill.  
  
She really had to give that habit up!!!  
  
Moving down the stairs, she stopped. She could hear people in the common room. It only sounded like there were 2 or 3 people in the room, and she could tell who they were. Lily would know that voice anywhere.  
  
Glancing around the corner, she confirmed her fears. James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were sitting around. Lily was just about to turn around and head back up to her room, when something caught her attention. It was her name.  
  
"So, how did your lesson with Lily go?" Sirius asked. Lily smiled and then sat on the stairs, she knew it was wrong to listen to the conversation, but she could not help herself.  
  
"It was interesting" James told his friends.  
  
"So, what happened? Don't leave us in the gut wrenching suspense, we need to know other wise you will be the cause of our untimely end" Sirius dramatized. Remus laughed.  
  
"His life may depend on needing to know, I just want to know" Remus replied.  
  
"Well, it was all fine and dandy up until the point that I kissed her....." James began.  
  
"You did what?" Both Sirius and Remus replied.  
  
"Well, I didn't really kiss her, but I almost kissed her." James replied.  
  
"You almost kissed her? Almost? I don't think I have ever known James Potter to almost do anything" Sirius replied. James laughed.  
  
"So, why didn't you kiss her?" Remus asked.  
  
"I couldn't, I didn't want it to feel like I was taking advantage of her. I mean, I liked her, and I want to be her friend, and you two know that I really want to be more than just her friend, but not for a while yet, I have to get to knew her."  
  
"What do you have to get to know about her? You know all of the details. Lily Evans, Aged 16, muggle born, smart, funny, abso-freaking-lutely gorgeous ... " Sirius began to list. From her spot on the stairs, Lily clamped her hand over her mouth to try and minimize the smile that was erupting. Sirius was saying such nice things about her and ....... Wait, did James say he wanted to be more than just a friend with her?  
  
It was all just so confusingly amazing. James wanted her. But why? James could have had any one that she wanted to have.  
  
".....Plus, she has an awesome body, and I like the way that she is always chewing on a quill, that is rather cute, in a grown up sexy way.." Sirius was continuing. Lily smiled. That was really sweet and a rather strange way.  
  
"You know Sirius, if I didn't know any better, I would suspect that you have a thing for Lily Evans" Remus joked.  
  
"You better bloody not have a crush on her" James replied. Sirius laughed.  
  
"Hey, I was just making a few observations about her." Sirius replied, holding up his hands.  
  
"Well, I would prefer it if you didn't make these type of observations about Lily" James replied. Sirius laughed.  
  
"You are defending her honor already. James, hate to throw around the L word, but I think you are in love with her" Remus smiled. He was joking, and nothing had prepared him for his friends reply.  
  
"I think I am in love with her to" James replied softly.  
  
On the stairs, Lily was smiling so brightly, and the only thing to stop her from jumping around and screaming was the fact that she was still on the stairs, and James was in the next room.  
  
"Whoa, James, stick the broom in reverse for a second here. You love her, like totally love her?" Sirius asked.  
  
"I think so, yeah, I really think so" He replied.  
  
"But you only just met her" Sirius replied.  
  
"Oh really, what happened to all I need to know was her name, age, and the fact that she was beautiful?" James asked him.  
  
"Well, I think you may need a little more info than that" Sirius replied.  
  
"And that is why, if you were listening, which I know that you hardly ever are, you would have heard me say that I want to wait for a little while and give myself time to get to know her before I make a complete ass out of myself."  
  
"Oh, yeah, I remember you saying that now." Sirius replied apologetically. James just sighed.  
  
"I need to know if she likes me before I do anything more. I had a feeling that she didn't want me to kiss her, and that was why I didn't. I don't want to make a fool out of myself and embarrass us both in the process" James replied.  
  
"Well, here is a novel idea, you could just ask her how she feels about you" Sirius replied.  
  
"Yeah, I could do that, she could say that she would rather be friends, and then I could die a thousand embarrassing deaths" James replied  
  
"You are so melodramatic" Remus told his two best friends. Neither of them really knew which one the comment was directed at. Maybe it was directed at both of them.  
  
Well then, Mr. I-am-so-smart-and-you-two-are-drama-queens, what do you suppose we do in order to find out if Lily likes James?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Enlist the help of a mutual friend"  
  
And with that, Remus stood, and began to move towards the stairs. Lily had just enough time to stand and run up the stairs to her room. Got to her room and closed the door just as Remus got to the top of the stairs and knocked on her door.  
  
"Lily, it is Remus, can I come in?" Remus asked through the door. From the common room, Lily could hear James yelling "Remus what the hell is you doing?"  
  
Lily, after taking a deep breath, opened the door.  
  
"Hello Lily, can I come in?" Remus asked again, she stepped aside so he could come into the room.  
  
"Right, I have to ask you some thing" Remus asked her. Lily nodded. "Right so I have this friend...."  
  
"Sirius?" She asked.  
  
"No" he replied  
  
"Oh, ok, James, unless of course we are talking about a hypothetical friend who is really you" Lily questioned. "No, we are talking about James"  
  
"Ok, go on then" Lily replied. She obviously al ready knew what Remus was going to say, so she was going to have fun.  
  
"Well, any way, this friend, James, he has a crush on this girl.." Remus tried to explain.  
  
"And for the sake of the story we will call this girl?" She fished. Remus laughed.  
  
"Lets call her Lily, of course for the sake of the story" Remus replied. "Anyway, James has this thing for this girl named Lily, and he is kind of confused about what to do next" Remus said.  
  
"Well, I think that this girl Lily would want to hear all of this from James himself. So why don't you go and tell James to tell Lily how he feels" Lily replied. Remus nodded.  
  
"Ok, thank you Lily, I will pass that information on to James." Remus replied and left the room. As soon as the door shut, she collapsed back onto her bed.  
  
"He likes me" she giggled.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Remus entered the common room. James and Sirius looked up at him expectantly.  
  
"What? What did you say? What did she say? What is going on?" James asked.  
  
"Tell her how you feel" Remus replied.  
  
"You mean it was that easy all along?" James asked.  
  
"Annoying that, huh?" Remus laughed. 


	7. Chapter 7: James' Developing Lesson F...

Ok, hello every one, I would like you to do me a favor. I want you to remember the last time you were seriously angry with some one or some thing, got it, good. Now, take that memory and multiply the anger by a thousand, then, add the undying urge to cry. Got it. Well, that is how I feel, because my computer just crapped itself.  
  
I wrote this chapter, and then my computer crapped up and I can't get to it. So I have to re write it. And that sucks, because the chapter I wrote was awesome.  
  
Right. With that said, I have to warn you, that this is the last chapter of this fic. Which is rather sad. Any way, I hope you enjoy it, and please remember to review.  
  
Review.  
  
Oh yeah, and before I forget, now that this story is drawing to close I wish to inform you of my next story. As of yet, it has no title, but I am going to try my hand at an R rated fic. And the main character will be Percy!!!! (I am setting myself little challenges for my school holidays, and a Percy fic was one of them) I hope you would ready that one and review it when it is uploaded some time this week.  
  
And Now that this is finished, I will get beck into writing Still Crazy. Don't worry, Draco and Gin will be out of there and back in love soon!!!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
It had been a week since Lily had spoken to Remus about James. A whole week, and he was yet to say anything to her about his feelings. Lily had not expected a declaration of love from him immediately, she suspected that James would take a few days to work out what he was going to say to her and how he was going to say it, but she never expected him to take this long.  
  
Maybe he was just planning something special, Maybe he just wanted every little thing to be perfect when he told her. Maybe he wanted to tell her at a special time, a time that Lily would never forget no matter how long she lived.  
  
Maybe  
  
Or Maybe he was lying about having feelings for her. Maybe he really didn't love her. Maybe she had got it all wrong. Maybe it was just a really big trick.  
  
Maybe  
  
Or Maybe Lily was just thinking too much about it all. .  
  
Yeah, that was more than likely. In fact, she reasoned, she was crazy, she was Crazy for James. He was driving her crazy, maybe he didn't realize that he was doing it, but he was driving her crazy.  
  
She was having trouble thinking about anything other than him now. Even her basic motor skills had gone out of the window. She was turning into a klutz. Her school work was dropping and her attention span was low.  
  
And it was all James' fault. She knew that. Lily was to bust thinking about James and not busy enough with the things that actually mattered, like her school work.  
  
Lily just wished that James would talk to her, to put her out of her misery. He had been avoiding the subject of their relationship for the week that had past. They had done homework together, and they had had three photography lessons in that time, but not one had James brought up his feelings.  
  
Lily wondered if maybe she should make the first move. She didn't want to grow old and die waiting for him to tell her what he felt. Lily wished that she had the courage to just walk up to him and tell him that she felt the same way. She wished she had what it took to just walk up to James and kiss him.  
  
But Lily was not that type of person. She didn't have the courage for that, she was not the type of person to just walk up to some one and embarrass herself. She just couldn't do it. She wished that she could, for her own sanities sake, but she couldn't.  
  
Thoughts of James rushed through his mind at all times. During classes, during her own personal time, even while she was eating. This was what she was doing now, eating her lunch and thinking of James  
  
She sighed, and pushed her food around with her fork.  
  
"Oh, cheer up Lily, It is only Lima Bean Casserole, it could get worse" Sirius smiled as he sat beside her. She smiled at him and then at Remus who had sat down across from her.  
  
Lily was glad that she was beginning to develop a strong friendship with Sirius and Remus. For some one who didn't have many friends and was not really accepted by others, she was glad that the boys wanted to be her friend. Once Lily had gotten to know them both, she realized that they were really nice people. Nice enough to pursue a friendship with them. Plus, it didn't hurt that they were friends with her maybe-maybe-not-boyfriend.  
  
"Yes, Lima Beans, Food of the gods" Lily smiled as she pushed them around her plate again. She knew it would only take a little while for Remus to realize that she had been thinking about James again. Remus was a pretty perceptive guy (Lily wondered if it was because of the wolf in him, almost like an animal instinct.)  
  
"Oh, it could get worse.....it could be my mothers cooking" Sirius smiled as he poked his own plate of Lima Beans.  
  
"You are two hard on your mothers cooking, that Ravioli that she made that one time was really nice" Remus replied, reaching for food from the center of the table.  
  
"Remus, that ravioli was from a can" Sirius replied. Lily laughed.  
  
"Oh" Was all he could reply with.  
  
The conversations went on between them for a few minutes, Sirius tried to look as though he was interest in what the other two were talking about (I mean, honestly, how can you talk about Ancient runes for long periods of time)  
  
"Oh, Lily" Sirius said suddenly, breaking the conversation between Lily and Remus "I have a message for you from James"  
  
"Really" She giggled like a lunatic. "I mean, oh, what did he say?"  
  
"He said not to forget this and that it was really important..." Sirius began.  
  
"Yeah, so what did he say?" Lily asked.  
  
"Um? I forgot" Sirius replied honestly. Lily groaned and grabbed his forearm, digging her nails into his skin. Sirius winced in pain while Remus winced in sympathy.  
  
"This is not funny Black. You know that for the last week I have been waiting for James to send me any little hint as to when he will come forward with his feelings. Now, you better remember his message quick smart before I remove your favorite appendage, rendering you unable to ever have children." Lily growled. Remus couldn't help but smile. "Another hand, five more fingernails" Remus lost his smile.  
  
"umm, he said something about developing photos today and he wants to give you a lesson in the darkroom" Sirius mumbled. Lily smiled and released him. Sirius rubbed his arm where there were five nail marks.  
  
"Thank you" She replied and then moved to the door of the great Hall.  
  
"James is DEVELOPING photos and he wants to give lily a LESSON in the DARK room" Remus smirked. Sirius shook his head at his friend.  
  
"And you keep saying I am the immature one" Sirius sighed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The chemicals were set up, the used rolls of film were lined up, the room was ready to be darkened.  
  
You know, for just in case they did end up getting around to developing pictures.  
  
Today he was going to tell her how he really felt. He hoped. Seven days had passed since he had had his conversation with Remus and Sirius, The conversation resulting in Lily being told but not really told, of his feelings. And for the last seven days, he had been trying to tell her. Every day he had failed.  
  
On Monday, she had come to visit him at quidditch training. His throat had closed up and he had choked. On Tuesday, he had studied with her in the library, with every intention of writing down his feelings and giving them to her, but his quill just didn't seem to scratch across the parchment. Wednesday, they had been just hanging out in the common room, he had tried to tell her, but he couldn't. He was too scared his palms started sweating and he couldn't find the words. Thursday, photography lesson, he had the opportunity, but he didn't take it.  
  
Friday, no declaration. Saturday, no hope of a declaration. Sunday, No hope in the world of a declaration.  
  
Why? Cos he was a coward.  
  
He was scared that he was going to make a fool of himself. He was scared that she would not feel the same way about him that he felt about her, he was scared that some thing would go wrong when he told her. He was scared, because he wanted everything to be perfect.  
  
So that was why he had come up with his idea for the day. He had given Sirius the message to pass on to Lily. (He just hoped that Sirius would not screw that up). And now he was waiting for her to come to his room.  
  
He had a plan which he thought was flawless. He was sitting on his bed in the darkened room, waiting for her to arrive. As soon as he heard the door open, he was planning on pulling her into his arms, whispering a little declaration of love to her, and then ending it in a kiss, all in the solitude of the darkness.  
  
James was confident in the dark.  
  
He wiped his sweating hands on the bed spread and waited for her to arrive. After 20 minutes, she still wasn't there. James made a mental note to kill Sirius, regenerate him and then kill him again, hell, he noted, just to regenerate him and kill him till he got board.  
  
The door opened, and some one entered. James stood, wiped his hands on his pants, and then made a grab for the person in the dark. James wrapped his arms around the other person in the room.  
  
"I think I love you" James whispered.  
  
"I am sorry James, you are not my type" came the very masculine reply.  
  
James jumped away from the other person in the room and grabbed his wand. The room was suddenly alight.  
  
"Peter?" James questioned.  
  
"I hope to god that you are up her waiting for Lily" He smiled and then moved to his bed, picking up a book. "Sorry to interrupt and everything"  
  
"That is ok...I am sorry" James replied.  
  
"Good luck with the whole Lily thing" Peter smiled as he moved back to the door.  
  
"Thanks Man...oh and Peter?" James began nervously.  
  
"Oh, Believe me James, my lips are sealed" Peter laughed as he left the room.  
  
James sighed. Ok, maybe his flawless plan had a few flaws.  
  
Deciding it would be safer to keep the lights on this time, James collapsed back onto the bed.  
  
He could do this. He could do this, all he had to do was say, Lily, I love you and I want to be with you. He could do this....  
  
There was a knock at the door and Lily's voice calling his name.  
  
He couldn't do this!!! He couldn't just say, Lily, I love you and I want to be with you. That would never work. It was lame, it was unthought-of of, it was.....  
  
James opened the door.  
  
Well, it would have to do.  
  
"Hi James" Lily smiled nervously as she entered the room. James smiled at her.  
  
"Hey Lily, I was wondering if you got my message, maybe it wasn't the best idea to send it with Sirius" He admitted. Lily laughed and jammed her hands into her pockets.  
  
They stood in silence for a few seconds. Neither of them knowing what to say. Lily took the opportunity to look around the room quickly. She saw the developing things in the corner and her heart sank. She didn't really think that she would be developing anything other than a relationship with James.  
  
"So.... Developing huh?" She asked. James looked across the room.  
  
"Yeah, developing, I was going to show you where to start with it all" He told her. She nodded and they moved to the developing things together.  
  
James had lost his nerve, again. He knew that as soon as they started to talk about developing techniques in stead of kissing techniques that he had no chance of steering the conversation back to their non existent love life.  
  
Lily felt like crying, this was getting beyond a joke. She didn't care about chemicals and photos, she cared about James. But she made it look like she was listening intently as he explained to her what to do.  
  
Soon James turned off the lights and began to developing process. After a while, Lily could not take it any more. She moved through the darkness to one of the beds and sat, finally letting a tear roll down her cheek. Luckily it was dark, and he was so caught up in what he was doing.  
  
Lily wished she was braver. She wished she could just walk up to him and kiss him .... wait, why couldn't she.  
  
Lily stood, and laughed lightly at herself. She already knew that he liked her, she had just been stubborn about making him make the first move. And now, in the darkness of the darkroom, she had found her courage.  
  
James jumped slightly as he felt her arms rap around his hips from behind and her lips come to rest on the skin of the back of his neck. James turned so that he help Lily to him.  
  
"A girl could die waiting for you Potter" She smiled. James laughed and lowered his lips to hers for a soft kiss.  
  
"I am an idiot for waiting for so long" He told her.  
  
"I will second that motion" She whispered, her lips still gliding over his. "But I guess I could have done something to"  
  
"That is true also" He mumbled, kissing her.  
  
"Thank god for the courage a darkroom gives" She smiled.  
  
They kissed for a few minutes before James finally pulled away.  
  
"Lils, have I told you yet how much I love you?"  
  
"No, but I have been waiting for you to say it" She smiled, pulling his lips back to hers.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 


End file.
